Gundam Wing The Movie: Endless Waltz
Type: Movie
Genre: Mecha, Action
Version: Region 1 DVD
Reviewed: 7/10/03

Packaging

The greatest robot anime ever is honored by way of a full-length feature film called Endless Waltz. The movie draws its title from a quote by one of the characters that went something like: “History is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace, and revolution continue on forever.” This sets up the movie rather well, as it takes place in the peacetime shortly following the end of the Gundam Wing TV Series.

After a year of peace and tranquility between Earth and the space colonies, it is concluded that no need exists for mobile suits, and they are quickly being destroyed en-masse, including the once-heroic Gundams. This leaves the pilots trying to rebuild their lives as normal citizens. Without warning, government official Relena Darlian is kidnapped by a group bent on taking over every space colony. This means that the Gundam pilots must fight one last battle before they can continue their normal lives. But how can an enemy who has hoarded mobile suits be defeated when the Gundams were sent into the Sun? The plot thickens…

Anime movies tend to make their animation noticeably better than their respective series’, and Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz is no exception. Gundam Wing was already plenty watchable to begin with, but Endless Waltz steps it up a notch with its great images.

Screen Shot
Take no jive.

Endless Waltz also outdoes the original series in terms of storyline. GW’s story was good, and had solid execution, but Endless Waltz takes things to the level appropriate for a film. The battles are amazing to watch, the characters continue to be some of the best that anime can offer, and the acting is once again remarkable. Watching Endless Waltz is almost as good as watching the last four episodes of the TV series.

Those that loved the Gundam Wing TV series have got to check this out. Unfortunately, people that have never seen the series will have pretty much no idea what’s going on, and should watch the series to find out if they’d be into the Gundam scene.

-Heath Hindman